Strictly Come Dancing attracted one of the biggest audiences of this series on Sunday, with its results show pulling in nearly 10 million viewers.
The results show from the Halloween special drew an average of 9.7 million viewers between 7.15pm and 8pm, a 40.8% share, as Kirsty Gallacher became the fifth celebrity to exit this year’s show.
After a Halloween mauling on Saturday, when it attracted an 11-year low of just 5.6 million, ITV’s The X Factor recovered somewhat, gaining almost a million viewers.
Boosted by not going with head to head with its rival, The X Factor results show picked up 6.5 million viewers, a 27.3% share, between 8pm and 9pm. Once viewing watched on ITV +1 is taken into account, the figure rose to 6.7 million.
However, its predecessor Jekyll and Hyde was not so lucky, losing almost a million viewers on its debut as it clashed with Strictly between 7pm and 8pm.
ITV’s fantasy drama pulled in 2.4 million viewers, a 10.5% share, apparently not boosted by publicity about the hundreds of complaints over violence in its launch episode.
It is scheduled in the same slot next week, but will go head to head with Strictly in only its last 45 minutes.
Meanwhile, ITV’s Downton Abbey attracted 7.9 million viewers, a 35% share, at 9pm, beating the launch of BBC1’s David Attenborough nature series The Hunt, which ensnared 4.4 million, a 19.5% share.
